© Ski Amadé/Leo Himsl
02. 10. 12. - 12:51
Salzburg still refuses to allow private ski teachers
A heated debate has broken out in Salzburg over local rules that make it almost impossible for private ski teachers to operate on ski slopes in the region.
According to an Austrian constitutional court ruling it should be possible for solo ski teachers to take pupils onto the slopes in Salzburg.
But the regional government in Salzburg has also introduced rules that make it in practice almost impossible. This includes the fact that anybody who wishes to provide professional ski lessons needs to have their own office and an area of ground under their control covering at least 1000 m² near, and the ski lift starting point in the Valley were pupils can gather get basic training without disrupting other skiers. Officials say that without these rules there would be chaos on the slopes.
But that has not been accepted by an association of Austrian ski teachers. They say that the rules mean that anybody fully qualified who wants to work on their own and have private customers will not have a chance of working in Salzburg.
Spokesman Nicolaus Winterstein from Zell am See said what was happening in Salzburg was effectively unfair trading and was against the ruling of the Constitutional Court.
He said: "The recent ruling involving a court in Tyrol made it clear that a single person is entitled to take private customers. That means that the law in Salzburg needs to change as well."
But Wilfried Haslauer from the Austrian People's party who is responsible for tourism said that the experience of officials in Vorarlberg confirmed that allowing private ski teachers onto the slopes simply caused chaos.
He said that the association of ski rental and snowboard hire firms was also against liberalisation of the ski teacher walls in Salzburg.
